Abstract:

In December 1620, Dorothy May Bradford fell off the Mayflower and drowned off the coast of Cape Cod. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, fictional and historical accounts began reporting her death as a suicide, suggesting without any real evidence that she was involved in a love triangle, or that she was not prepared to cope with the harsh realities of colonial life. The narrative of her alleged suicide is so pervasive that even scholars who reject the notion often mention it as a possibility. This essay argues that, in seeking to give Bradford a voice, readers inadvertently erase Bradford's agency, instead creating a caricature of a "Pilgrim" wife and mother. Reframing Bradford's death using the lens of psychohistory forces critics to interrogate the underlying stereotypes about Pilgrim woman- and motherhood that inform speculations about her death, as well as the latent misogyny in accounts that primarily identify colonial women as struggling with mental health issues. This essay explores the limits of analyzing Dorothy Bradford's mental health and challenges us to remember all of Plymouth's colonists as fully realized people, with complex physical and mental health.

摘要：

1620年12月，多萝西·梅·布拉德福德（Dorothy May Bradford）从五月花号（Mayflower）跌落在科德角（Cape Cod）海岸附近溺水身亡。从19世纪中叶开始，虚构和历史记载开始报告她死于自杀，这表明没有任何真实证据表明她卷入了三角恋，或者她不准备应对严峻的殖民生活。她所谓的自杀的故事是如此的普遍，以至于那些拒绝这个想法的学者也经常提到这种可能性。本文认为，在试图让布拉德福德发表意见时，读者无意间抹去了布拉德福德的代理权，而是讽刺了“朝圣者”的妻子和母亲的讽刺画。用心理历史学的镜头重新诠释布拉德福德的死，批评家们质疑朝圣者关于女性和母亲的潜在刻板印象，这些猜测使人们对她的死有了更多的猜测，以及主要表明殖民地妇女在心理健康问题上苦苦挣扎的说法中潜在的厌食症。本文探讨了分析多萝西·布拉德福德（Dorothy Bradford）的心理健康的局限性，并向我们提出挑战，要求我们记住普利茅斯（Plymouth）的所有殖民者都是完全意识到的，身体和心理健康状况良好的人。